Download How to Be an Ally

Muslims in America Today:
How to Be an Ally
Educate yourself.
This is step number one. It is absolutely exhausting for Muslims to have to personally
educate each non-Muslim they meet. (Jews in largely non Jewish areas complain of the same
problem vis a vis Christians.) It is not terrible to ask an openhearted, curious question of a
Muslim that is really “google-able,” but when it comes to the common misunderstandings, it
is better to do some of our own work first.
1. Read! You can start with Rabbi Reuven Firestone’s An Introduction to Islam for Jews. Other
good introductions include No god but God by Reza Aslan and Memories of Muhammad by
Omid Safi.
2. To gain understanding of the Muslim American realities today, read a few novels or plays by
Muslim Americans (e.g. Wajahat Ali’s Domestic Crusaders, Mohja Kahf’s Girl in the Tangerine
Scarf) or memoirs (e.g. The Butterfly Mosque by Willow Wilson or Acts of Faith by Eboo
Patel) or watch films (e.g. New Muslim Cool or Unmosqued)
3. Follow young Muslim thought leaders (e.g. Haroon Moghul, Abdullah Antepli, Reza Aslan,
Wajahat Ali, Rabia Chaudrey, Homayra Ziad, Najeeba Syeed) on their blogs, Twitter or
Facebook pages.
4. After learning a bit about Islam, a next step would be to familiarize yourself with issues
between Muslims and Jews in our country. Muslims and Jews in America edited by Reza
Aslan and Aaron Hahn Tapper is a great start, especially the article by Rabbi Amy Eilberg.
5. Essential Reading: Center for American Progress’ report on the roots of the
Islamophobia network in America, Fear, Inc.
Build Relationships
This is the next step, where the education comes to life and you can begin to really grow
your understanding.
1. Befriend local Muslims, through local mosques or college/university MSA’s.
2. Join or Start a Daughters of Abraham Women’s Interfaith Book Group or a chapter
ofSisterhood of Salaam Shalom (or create male equivalents)
3. Help to start an interfaith program for teens and let the teens’ friendships lead to
relationships on the adult level. Check out Walking the Walk as a model.
4. Work on long term issues of concern for both communities through Multifaith organizations
engaged in justice work (e.g. PECO).
5. Get ideas for relationship building from the resource guide Sharing the Well, available as a
pdf online.
Be an Agent of Cultural Change
This is how Jews became part of the fabric of the American faithscape
1.Invite local Muslim leaders or scholars to come and teach your folks about Islam.
2.Introduce connections and narrative migration between Islamic and Jewish cultures in
your teaching (e.g. Stories of Joseph: Narrative Migrations between Judaism and Islam)
3.Help create interfaith events (e.g. concerts, peace walks, Spread Humus not Hate), world
travel)
4.Attend fundraisers for local mosques
5. Answer questions in your community.(e.g.Why don’t more Muslims condemn ISIS? They
do!
http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/commonwordcommonlord/2014/08/thinkmuslims-havent-condemned-isis-think-again.html
Take Action
Stand shoulder-to-shoulder as an ally to uphold American values
1. Find out about flashpoint causes of concern to Muslims when they arise in your community
(e.g. Islamophobic bus ads, zoning battles, surveillance issues). Call your friends (see #2)
and ask them how you can best help.
2. Write letters to the editor to the Jewish and general press
3. Show up for rallies; bring other Jews with you.
4. For guidance on best practices, contact the Shoulder–to–Shoulder Campaign of the Islamic
Society of North America or T’ruah –the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights -- or New Ground: A
Muslim-Jewish Partnership of Change
Prepared by Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
[email protected]